Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Four Brothers characters or the rights to that movie---I would be on my yacht in the Caribbean if I did---I only own Lily.

AN: Sorry if the tenses are screwed up, I switched half way through and may have messed it up a little. Also, I'm not loving the current title of my story, so any suggestions are VERY welcome. Please review.

Summary: The story of FOUR BROTHERS told from the viewpoint of Lily, the Nanny to Jerry's kids.

For the second time this year a coffin stood before me. For the second time this year, I was doing my best not to cry. For the second time this year, I was failing said effort. The girls were doing better than I had anticipated. For a while there was a heated debate between Jerry and Camille as to whether or not the girls would even attend the funeral at all, but here they were, sitting on either side of me, solemn and stern-looking but free of tears and emotional outbursts. Jerry and Camille were in front of us, Camille holding onto Jerry in a lovely display of wifely affection.

I looked to the right, and spied Jerry's older brother. I truly thought Jerry was joking when he showed me a picture of his family, but no, they're brothers. Bobby was shorter than I imagined he would be, but what he lacked in height he compensated for in ruggedness, toughness, and an overall badass attitude. On the other hand, Jack was exactly how I pictured him: tall, lanky, virile—the epitome of the stereotypical starving New York artist. The third brother (I believe his name is Angel) was yet to be seen, and I hoped he showed. How could you miss your own mother's funeral? Especially after how it happened---murdered in a drugstore. My God, the woman only went out to buy a Thanksgiving turkey. A turkey that would have been eaten by Jerry, Camille, the girls and I………she died because of a stupid turkey.

Fresh tears brimmed in my eyes, and Amelia climbed into my lap to brush away the tears. I tried to smile, but I couldn't, so I hugged her instead. Compared to her sister, Amelia was more nurturing, but Daniela was more mellow and relaxing. Needless to say, they could also be quite a handful, but then again most children are. I've been their Nanny for six months now, ever since school let out. My grandma was a friend of Evelyn Mercer, who just happened to have two young granddaughters whose parents both worked full time and were in need of a Nanny. I showed up on their doorstep a week later and never looked back.

Daniela pinched my arm, "Its over, Lily, everybody's leaving."

I took a look around and discovered the majority of people had already left. The priest was conversing with Camille, and Jerry and his brothers were huddled in a circle, talking and rubbing their arms, trying to keep warm. My God, if the tragedy of this situation doesn't drive you home, the cold will. It had been below freezing for a while, and being from San Francisco I was taking it worse than anybody there. Jack turned around and smiled as he waved to the girls. They didn't seem to know who he was, so I smiled at him and shrugged in a "kids, what can you do?" kind of way. He grinned, nodded, and turned back to his brothers. By now Camille had walked over towards us and we started to take the girls to the car. "We're leaving Jer, you comin' or not?" she yelled over her shoulder.

"In a minute, baby," he replied, always cool, always calm. Jerry walked after us a second later, while Bobby and Jack got into a beat up old car and followed us home. They've never been to Jerry and Camille's place, I guess.

Ten minutes later we arrived back at the house and I had a strong urge to go upstairs and collapse on my bed. Fortunately, Camille saw my dire expression.

"Why don't you take a quick break?" she suggested kindly, "the girls have to meet their uncles." She muttered the last part with just a hint of disdain. I didn't blame her; I wouldn't want my kids to hang out with criminals, family or not. Still, they didn't look too edgy. Jack and Bobby were squatting on the ground, shaking hands with the girls and petting the dog. There was a definite gentleness to their eyes when they were around family. Even Bobby laughed.

Suddenly the girls were gone and two cops were standing in their place. I didn't know why, but I wanted to leave. I jogged up the stairs to my room and lay down on the bed, trying to get comfortable but knowing all the while that it was useless, since at any given moment the girls would come charging up the stairs.

I was right. Three minutes later a small warm body jumped on top of me, while someone else's arm tugged at my sleeve.

"Wake up, Lily, its time to eat. There's a bufftay downstairs."

"Buffet, Amelia. Let me change and I'll join you in a minute." I needed to get out of my clothes—my dreary, solemn, black clothes. I searched my closet—not much to choose from really. I mean I certainly couldn't go out there in bright pink or blue or anything like that. I settled for a milk chocolate brown cardigan, a few shades lighter than my hair color.

I walked into the bathroom and immediately spied the broken white scale. It struck me as funny that I no longer knew how much I weighed, though I'm pretty sure I'm a dress size eight. Opening the cabinet over the sink only resulted in a sigh. Dear God, what I wouldn't give for a couple of aspirin right now.

"Hey, you must be Lily" a deep voice from behind me says. I turned and found myself face to face with Jack. I smiled and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you. You're Jack, right?"

"Yeah."

I realized I hadn't said anything about his mother yet, but I didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry for your loss" "If you ever need to talk…." "It's okay to cry" No, none of these will do. So I ignored it. The way I saw it, he's sick of talking to people like that. I would be different. I would make him forget if only for one moment.

"How do you like the girls?"

He grinned. "They're cute kids. Hope they don't have too much of their dad in them."

"Amelia's more like Jerry than Daniela is," I told him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Bobby emerged from the kitchen, "Hey, Bobby Mercer," he said loudly and stuck out his hand.

"Lily Hastings."

"Is Cracker Jack buggin' you? You'll have to forgive him, he's never talked to a woman before."

I couldn't help but smirk, "Let me guess, you're the youngest?"

Jack waved his hand as if its nothing, "They love me, they just don't know it."

Bobby rolled his eyes as he walked away, "I'll see you ladies later, I'm getting' some grub. Yo Camille, where's the caviar?" She promptly smacked him with a dishtowel, earning a few laughs from Jerry.

"So where's your other brother?" I asked him.

He chuckled, "The Jarhead? I don't know, his flight probably got delayed," he peered out the window---the weather had significantly changed over past fifteen minutes. "Snowing again," he mused.

"Is it really?" I asked with almost too much enthusiasm. He looked amused. "Hey, gimmie a break, I'm from San Francisco, I'm still not used to it."

"Winter virgin," he muttered. I just laughed, since I wasn't sure of whether I was being teased or not.

"Lily, eat with us! You too Uncle Jack!" yelled Daniela from across the room.

"Uncle Jacks gotta go, baby, you'll see him later," Bobby yelled back as he made his way towards us. "Come on Tinkerbell, we need to get home. Nice meeting ya Lily. Cracker Jack, kiss your girlfriend goodbye."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, you'll get used to him."

Bobby smirked and called over his shoulder, "Yeah, you'll love me."

Jack said his goodbyes and followed Bobby out the door. I was still staring after him when Camille tapped me on the shoulder. "He's cute, huh?"

I blushed and shrugged, "I guess. If you like that look." I was about to walk away when she grasped my arm, holding me back. "Look, what you do outside this house is your business, but be careful. Jack's a nice guy but he's still a Mercer, and all the Mercer men have pasts."

Mercer men have pasts. I brushed it off for now, but something told me their past wasn't too far behind them.